ALTRINCHAM FC's management duo of Bernard Taylor and Graham Heathcote have been charged with the selection of the UniBond - League's representative squad ' to take on an English FA XI in one of the trial games for their England semi-professional side.

Former Altrincham defender John Owens, who is now in charge of the England semi-pro side, will run the FA XI.

Also, the match will take place at Altrincham's Moss Lane home on the evening of Monday November 19, with a 7.45pm kick-off.

• Paul Taylor is still recovering from a cartilage operation and could be out for another month,

• Altrincham will be represented at the meeting to discuss the re-structuring of non-league football at Rushden and Diamonds on Friday September 28, 2001.

• Altrincham travelled to Runcorn FC Halton last night in the UniBond League Cup, after SAM went to press.

Their other opponents in the cup's group stage are Trafford, Witton Albion, Colwyn Bay and Vauxhall Motors.

• Ex-Stalybridge defender Stuart Locke's future at Moss Lane depends on the club cutting the wage bill by getting rid of another player.

Bernard Taylor said, °I would love to hold on to everybody, but the truth is we cannot afford to."

Locke said, "This has the makings of a great move for me and I am concentrating on making sure Altrincham get the best from me."

Problems with my scanner soft ware have prevented the reproduction of several articles of relevance to Altrincham supporters. Although some what dated they are included for interest and completeness

Altrincham boss Bernard Taylor is praying new signing Stuart Locke will open the door to the Nationwide Conference.

For Locke vvho has joined Alty initially for a month after being released by Stalybridge, collects championship medals for fun - and is hungry for more

The 29 year old Stockport based defender picked up his fifth title gong in seven seasons with Bridge last .term, having previously helped Macclesfield win the Conference, Flixton. flnish top of the NWCL and both Leek and Leigh triumph in the UniBond League

Taylor would like nothing more than to keep Locke - after all, he's a lucky omen – but confesses that, if he's to do that, it will mean him releasing someone, else.

The Alty chief said "If I'm to keep Stuart beyond a month, Ill have to unload. I'd love to hold onto everyone- but the truth is, we can’t afford to:"

Locke who has joined Altrincham after also, speaking to Droylsden, Hyde and Accrington, is optimistic about his chances of adding to his medal haul if he stays at Moss Lane

He said "This has the makings of a great season for me, particularly as Alty have everything to play for this season.

I’m sad to have left Stalybridge after all the great times I had there but these things happens in football. Now all I'm concentrating on is making sure Altrincham get the best from me."'

UniBond League Secretary and life member Duncan Bailey, who's in his sixth season on the FA Council has been elected vice chairman on the FS Trophy Committee and also a vice president of the Cheshire FA.

ENGLAND fans should bow their heads to Altrincham and the two points they surrendered to help beat the Germans.

Reluctant hero Rod Thornley gave up his place in the Altrincham lineup to help England to glorious victory as masseur for David Beckham, Michael Owen and the rest of Sven Goran Eriksson's squad.

The UniBond club drew 1-1 with Lancaster as England were preparing to take the field in Munich. An Altrincham team with Thornley in the side would have stood a much better chance of taking three points had they not given up their striker to England's cause.

Thornley won his job with England thanks to his full-time role at Manchester United where he works with the Premiership champions every day. His laying on of hands made sure England were primed and ready for action when they faced the Germans and then the Albanians at St James' Park.

But while Thornley's easy going attitude and professionalism makes him a natural with Manchester United's and England's stars Andy Cole and Juan Sebastian Veron were recent visitors to Moss Lane to watch him play Altrincham boss Bernard Taylor is as proud of the player for his exploits with the Robins as he is for his work with the national side.

Modest Thornley, 24, was reluctant to speak about his work for Manchester United and within the England set-up and Taylor commented: "That says it all about the lad. He wants to keep it quiet and he does not want it to affect his job.

Taylor added: "But I can't say enough about him. He's done well here and he's done marvelously at Old Trafford. We hear reports of how good he is at his job.

"And he's one that keeps his feet firmly on the ground. He's mixing with the stars like Beckham and Veron, but he's not big headed.

"I don't know a nicer lad. I should imagine it's quite hard working with the stars all week then coming here, but he doesn't seem to mind."

And with obvious delight Taylor adds: "I met Veron. He couldn't speak a word of English and I certainly can't speak a word of Spanish, never mind anything else. We've had a few famous people down the club through Rod"

Thornley - brother of former Manchester United and Huddersfield midfielder Ben - was signed from Congleton Town last season but made an immediate impact, netting 27 goals.

Despite his other commitments, Thornley has not missed too many Altrincham games.

"The odd time we miss him is for European games," says Taylor. "But when he's with us he has scored hat tricks and twos. Inside that box he's deadly. He's certainly one we want to keep here."

"He's a naturally fit lad. Any time he has off is fine by me, we've accepted that. His job comes first and it is a very important job. I will go along with anything Rod has to do."

FOOTBALL FANS pondering joining the movement towards greater involvement in the running of clubs were given powerful reasons to do so yesterday by Nic Coward, the secretary of the Football Association, the game's governing body.

Describing the work of the FA's Financial Advisory Unit, which has visited 83 professional football clubs in the last 18 months, Coward said a "significant number" are "technically insolvent", described setting a budget as a "novel concept" for many football club directors, and said: "Dealing with cash, counting it and banking it, is a real problem." The advisory unit, he said, was working with clubs' directors to encourage them to change and work to "best practice".

Coward was addressing a conference at London's Birkbeck College of Supporters Direct, the Governmentbacked initiative established in January 2000 to encourage supporters to become more involved in the running of clubs. Several of the conference delegates, who came from 56 clubs, accused Coward of not being robust enough, one saying many directors are in football not for the love of their club but "to make a quick buck". Joe Ashton, formerly a Labour MP and director of Sheffield Wednesday, described the game as: "Riddled with corruption". Coward, though, was adamant that the FA's approach, which guarantees confidentiality to all clubs and offers free financial advice from a team of accountants, is the best way to encourage directors to introduce higher standards. "Most directors are there because they were first and foremost supporters," he said.

The scheme has made rapid, dramatic progress since then. Active interest has been expressed by fans from 142 clubs at all levels in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. They even received an inquiry from the Nepal Football Supporters' Association. Trusts, until recently a relatively obscure concept of supporter mutual organisation, have now been formed at 35 clubs, including Manchester United, Aston Villa and Tottenham, whose executive vicechairman, David Buehler, has been very welcoming. Twelve more are in the pipeline. Fourteen lower division clubs now have supporter-representatives as directors and two, Lincoln City and Chesterfield, are now controlled by their fans, following intense local dramas last season.

The new Sports Minister, Richard Caborn, himself a former director of Sheffield United, praised Supporters Direct's influence in encouraging clubs to have a "proper dialogue" with their supporters. He added that the Government is now considering extending the initiative to other sports, including rugby league and ice hockey. But he said the Government is looking to withdraw from being the sole funder of Supporters Direct when its current budget - £250,000 for each of three years - expires in 2003, and wants clubs themselves, or sponsors, to put money in. "There is an appetite for change," Caborn said. "Football has had to look at itself and how it treats the fans. But it's quite expensive and, if it's going to be sustainable, we don't want the government to be the sole funder"

That struggle lies in the middle distance but, for now, Supporters Direct is forging ahead. "We believe we have won the argument that football is more than a business, that it properly, morally, belongs to the supporters," said Brian Lomax, who will next month give up his job running a housing charity in Rugby to concentrate full-time on being the chief executive of Supporters Direct. "We're now looking to develop the initiative by providing fans with the real skills required if they are to play a part in the management of clubs."

Yesterday's conference included sessions on setting up and running trusts, holding elections, media relations and being a football club director. Next Wednesday the Chesterfield Football Supporters Society, which took over the ravaged club last April then put it into administration with debts of £1.5m, will hold elections for its officers: the first democratic process to decide the membership of a football club board Derbyshire Police Fraud Squad is still conducting an investigation into the running of the club under Darren Brown, its former owner for a disastrous 11 months last year.

Responding to the crisis, around 3,000 Chesterfield supporters, close to the total average attendance. have joined the society. Other spectacular supporters trust launches were held, last May at Carlisle, attended by around 1,000 fans and last April at Hammersmith Town Hall. which was packed with 950 supporters of Queen's Park Rangers, who had gone into administration.

The Owls Trust, which has 1,000 Sheffield Wednesday supporters as members and a full-time chief executive, John Hemmingham, has been boosted by the gift of seven percent of the club's shares from three directors.

But Howard Borrell, a Chesterfield supporter-director, emphasised the struggle ahead for fans who take over stricken lower-division clubs in similar circumstances. "It's s been an awful lot of work just to keep the club going, and we always have the fact of administration hanging over us," he said. "We still need a great deal of investment to secure the club's future as a supporter. owned institution."

Rob Bradley, the former editor of Lincoln City's Yellow Belly fanzin and now chairman of the club, also sounded a cautionary note. Lincoln's supporters were able to take their club over only after an exceptional gesture from the club's out-going chairman, John Reames, who donated his majority shareholding worth around £400,000, for free:

"It's exhilarating to find yourself in charge," Bradley said, "but, when that clears, you find you are in a deeply unglamorous situation We're running a struggling business, with debts of £800,000, constantly looking for ways to save money. But we're looking to the long term, to transform the football club into a real, democratic community institution."

If this principle underpins Supporters Direct, there is also a sober realisation that widespread fans'

takeovers are unlikely, given the scale and cost of football clubs, even failing ones. Crystal Palace supporters raised £1m very quickly with the aim of buying a stake in their club, which was in administration, but have since been sidelined by Simon Jordan, the new owner who bought the club for around £12m.

"We're not looking for takeovers," - Lomax said. "We are encouraging supporters to join together in mutual organisations, to play as much of a role in their clubs as they can. There is tremendous expertise out there among supporters, and we're encouraging a proper partnership between them and their clubs. Clubs would be mad to refuse it."

Pressed on the value of supporter representatives becoming directors of clubs, the FA's Nic Coward said it did not fit with the "logic" of the FA's financial advisory process. "It's difficult to know how representative people are, or whether they are truly independent. We're clear that working with the current directors is the way forward. We've begun this process and we believe it should be given a real chance to work."

Christine Oughton, of Birkbeck College, yesterday presented research on the Corporate Governance of Football Clubs, following a questionnaire sent out to all clubs. Only Barnet and Manchester United refused to answer it. The report documents a quiet sea change in the football clubs' relationships with their supporters, partly prompted by Supporters Direct. All Premier League and most Football League clubs now have customer charters and fans forums, at which concerns are discussed. The researchers noted varying accounts of forums' effectiveness, from "a healthy tension" between club and fans to hostility and, at one Second Division club: "It was reported that the forum was fine until the fans' group disagreed with club policy and then communication was terminated."

ALTRINCHAM have kissed goodbye to hopes of a fortune following Scarborough's £60,000 sale of their former star Paul Ellender to Nationwide Conference rivals Boston United.

Robins' bosses were praying Scarborough would sell Ellender for more than the £70,000 they agreed to pay Alty for him when he left Moss Lane for the Yorkshire club in December 1999.

That would have guaranteed the hard-up Robins a chunk of Scarborough's profit, which would have been a handy windfall at a time when chairman Mark Harris and his board are still desperately striving to get Altrincham back on an even-keel financially.

But not only does Ellender moving for less than 70 grand mean Alty won't get a penny the fact that he's no longer at the McCain Stadium means they now won't cash in, either, should the classy defender ever make a big-money move into the Nationwide League.

That's a real blow to Altrincham, particularly as Ellender was linked last season to Wimbledon, Cardiff City and Bristol Rovers, and is now said to have a big admirer in Oxford United manager, Mark Wright.

And as Alty never received the full amount they were owed for the 26-year-old England non-League international, having agreed to write off the last £10,000 to save Scarborough from liquidation, it's little wonder Moss Lane chiefs are left feeling somewhat short-changed.

Said Harris: "It's disappointing to have got nothing out of Paul's move doubly so as it breaks the "sell-on" chain.

"But if my few months as chairman here have taught me anything, it's that you make your own good fortune in football. You can't rely on anyone else."

Alty are hoping for better luck with Kevin Ellison, the winger they sold to Leicester City for a club-record £100,000 in February, who will net them another tidy sum should he ever leave Filbert Street for more than that.

But Ellison is currently injured, prompting Harris to quip: "We wish Kevin a speedy return to first-team action - we need the money!"

At least, Altrincham seem to be enjoying better fortunes on the pitch. They went into yesterday's UniBond premier division clash at Colwyn Bay boasting full points from two games thanks to victories over Whitby and Worksop.